Nurses make another push to get mandated staffing approved

Registered nurses across New York are pushing the Republican-led state Senate to pass legislation that would require hospitals and nursing homes to ensure there are enough nurses on duty to care for patients.

Dozens of RNs gathered at the state Capitol Monday to lobby lawmakers to approve a bill that would mandate minimum staffing levels for nurses.

The measure was again expected to pass the Democrat-controlled Assembly later Monday, but it has yet to be approved in the Senate after years of attempts.

RNs and their supporters say the Legislature needs to establish a cap on the number of patients a nurse is responsible for at any given time.

Opponents say mandating nurse staffing ratios is unnecessary and would drive up health care cost by imposing inflexible standards on hospitals.